The Copycat
by Revolution Assassin
Summary: AU. With Slade in A.R.G.U.S' custody, Oliver Queen must now deal with a copycat, a new company that has been plagued with shady rumors, and an increasing crime rate. Is Oliver looking for trouble or is there some merit to his suspicion? Warning: contains spoilers for season two and OC.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Arrow fic. I would like to thank Dannylionthe1st for beta reading my story. This fic does contain spoilers for those who haven't seen season two so be warned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow.**

* * *

Oliver was sitting on the couch with the T.V playing in the background. He was thinking about his first year as The Hood, then The Vigilante. His first year, all he thought about was The List. It was the only thing that was guiding him, nothing else. As much as he denied Diggle's wisdom during those early days, the man was right. There was more than one way to save Starling City than just crossing off names on a list.

After getting back from locking Slade up at the A.R.G.U.S supermax on Lian Yu, Oliver properly mourned his mother. It made him think about his relationships. He couldn't believe how he treated everyone when he came back from the island. Pushing people away was his solution, but it was easier said than done. He and Moira did have their differences, but it felt like Oliver was reconnecting with her until Slade ruined it by putting her and Thea in the sadistic choice situation. It made him relive that moment with Sara and Shado, saving one life, but losing another. He had not heard from Thea, but hoped she was okay.

The new Arrow Cave was still being worked on. The equipment going into it was a big gamble since Oliver's resources for replacing them were strained. Leaving his costume, arrows, bow, and electronics was risky. So he kept his equipment at Diggle's and the electronics stayed with Felicity aside from the servers.

Currently, Oliver was staying at John's apartment. His friend saw no problem with Oliver staying at his place and knew it was only a temporary measure. He was spending more time with Lyla now that they were expecting a child.

Oliver took a deep breath and sighed heavily. It felt a bit uneasy that nothing major had happened. Fighting thugs on the street was repetitive and sure it was reducing crime, but it didn't feel the same as fighting Slade or Deathstroke as A.R.G.U.S called him. Still, it was better than losing an eye.

_**In other news, a woman was saved by an unknown masked man with a bow. She believed it was the Arrow, but he was clad in black and gold, not green. The woman dubbed him "Copycat Arrow." Since the city-wide riot that occurred a week ago, the Arrow has been hailed as a hero of Starling City. Is this mysterious archer a result of the Arrow's actions or is he a copycat capitalizing on the fame and glory? Coming up next, A.R.E.S. Industries has opened its new facility here in Starling….**_

Oliver tuned out from the rest of the news, thinking of what the news anchor said_, "A Copycat Arrow and a new company. It seems like I'll have to look out for these two-"_

His train of thought was interrupted again by the police scanner, "Attention all available units, we have a 10-90 at Jade's Jewelry Store." He quickly suited up and headed out to Jade's that was a few blocks away from the apartment.

* * *

Five males all wearing black clothing and ski masks were destroying the display cases with the butt of their assault rifles. Before the robbery, Jade's was a very prosperous business that had a large selection of jewelry at reasonable prices.

The five men gathered all of the rings, necklaces, and gems they could. A few of the necklaces fell out of their bags, but they ignored them so they could leave before the cops showed up. As they were running out the back door, the first robber tripped on some wire, making the rest fall as well.

A masked man clothed in black and gold with light armored gauntlets drew his bow from the nearby building's rooftop and fired an arrow near one of robber's head. After a few seconds, the arrow exploded like a flash grenade. The five were struggling to get back on their feet. Deafening white noise filled their ears and white light blinded them.

The black-gold clad archer rushed down the roof to the robbers. As one of them nearly regained his composure, the archer slammed him into the wall behind and punched him mercilessly until he was unconscious.

Two more men regained their surroundings and picked up their rifles. The archer fired another flash grenade arrow and blinded them all again. He knocked the other men unconscious with little resistance.

He patted the last man's jacket to see if there was any hidden jewelry on his person. There were two diamond necklaces in his pockets and held them up to examine them.

Shortly after, a green arrow landed near his feet. Arrow quickly jumped down to face the mysterious archer. Arrow launched another arrow, but the archer fired one of his own and both arrows fell to the floor after contact.

Both men knew having an archery duel wasn't going anywhere so they rushed in and fought hand-to-hand. Arrow threw a left hook, but the copycat blocked it with his right arm and landed a left jab on Arrow's face. Arrow groaned hard, but recovered fast enough to catch the sidekick for his head. After catching the archer's leg, he slammed him into the nearby wall. The man let out a robotic groan.

"So you must be the Copycat Arrow," Arrow pointed out. Though it was difficult to read the facial expressions under the mask, the man tensed as if he felt insulted. They both heard the sirens in the distance.

The copycat took his chance and kneed Arrow in the stomach and punched his face hard enough to knock him down. He threw down a handful of smoke from his pouch and used the smoke as cover to fire a grappling arrow at the top of a fire escape. He saw Arrow attempt the same thing shortly after getting up, but cut it short by throwing a flash grenade arrow from his quiver. Arrow hit the wall behind after impact.

After recovering from the effects of the flash grenade arrow, Arrow examined his surroundings. The copycat was most likely long gone and no chance to catch up with him. He grabbed his arrows and the copycat's off the ground to analyze.

"I will catch you, Copycat," Arrow growled as he clutched the arrows in a death grip.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you guys think by leaving a review. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a quick shout out. I would like to thank Dannylionthe1st for beta reading these chapters. **

* * *

Oliver stormed back into John's apartment, after his ordeal at the jewelry store. The copycat's archery skills were equal to his, no doubt about that. The man was fairly skilled, but a bit sloppy in his hand-to-hand combat. Oliver also wondered if the copycat was with the thugs or not? Perhaps he betrayed them at the last minute and wanted to take the loot for himself?

After a moment of reflecting on his fight with the imposter, Oliver decided to focus his effort on who this copycat was before looking for him. He examined one of the black-gold arrows intently. It was evident that his preference was flashbang arrows, similar to the ones Oliver used. The arrowheads were slightly dull, good for nonlethal use.

Diggle opened the front door and saw Oliver examining the arrow. "Oliver, was that you at the jewelry store?"

Oliver shook his head. "Not exactly Digg, it was the Copycat."

"So there's another archer running again?"

"Another archer who thinks he can impersonate me," Oliver snapped. He quickly reviewed his fight with the copycat again for John to hear. He knew the way he said it may have hinted jealously, but he wasn't angry. Or he was in denial and not wanting to admit it. The way John was looking at him irritated him and knew John wasn't on his side.

Diggle sighed. "Look, I suggest we get to know him, see what his true intentions are before we call him an imposter."

Diggle decided to look into the copycat online while Queen was deep in thought. Looking at the local Starling City news reports, there wasn't enough information on him. He searched for any nearby city that matched the color scheme of his arrows.

One that caught Diggle's eye was Solaris City, located in the Silicon Valley. Up until around five years ago, the crime rate was moderate to high, especially during the winter holidays. Police reports indicated a masked man was taking the law into his own hands and was armed with a bow and arrows. Crime decreased at a steady rate due to this vigilante. The news stations had dubbed him "Apollo." Only one known victim was killed and it was a local mobster named Marcus Fredricks who died from a punctured lung. Ever since then, the police had been searching for him.

Oliver walked over and saw the current web page he was looking at. "Apollo," he whispered as he read the article. He wondered what a Solaris vigilante was doing in Starling. It was possible that A.R.E.S had something to do with this vigilante's change in city. The company's main corporate office was in Solaris, but they just opened up another building in Starling. It seemed a little too coincidental for Oliver.

Oliver made a quick call to Felicity to get as much information on A.R.E.S as possible. He heard her yawning. "I thought you gave me the night off."

Oliver chuckled slightly. "Sorry Felicity, you can give me the information tomorrow." He wished her good night and got ready to go to sleep himself.

* * *

Oliver started to wake up from his bed. He saw the time and it was nine o'clock. He went to the restroom and splashed his face with cold water to pep up his energy a bit. After drying his face, he went to go get some coffee.

After making his coffee, Oliver saw a note that Diggle left on the counter and said that he was going to be gone all day. It also said that Carly managed to pull some strings for Oliver to work at Big Belly, but owes her a favor once he got his company back. He mused at working there, but he didn't want to be a freeloader to Diggle. The least Oliver could do is help him out here and there.

He heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. Felicity stood there with a manila folder in her hand. She wore a simple gray business suit and her lips had a scarlet shade to them. She looked professional, but elegant. Oliver had a smile on his face and offered her coffee. She accepted his offer and he went to make it.

While he was making the coffee, Felicity sat down and started to talk about her findings on A.R.E.S. "I looked into A.R.E.S as you asked. There are a lot of questionable practices, especially pertaining to one man named Warren Sanders."

Felicity pulled out a photo along with some documents that had large segments redacted. "Mr. Sanders is currently the head of the facility here in Starling City."

Oliver finished the coffee and handed it to Felicity. She graciously accepted it and took a sip. "There is a lot of information missing in these documents," Oliver pointed out.

Felicity nodded, "Unfortunately, my source isn't very reliable. But he claims that unsanctioned medical tests were performed on homeless people. There were given…."

"What kind of unsanctioned tests," he asked.

"Allegedly, unsanctioned medical tests performed on homeless people. They were given experimental treatment to combat cancer cells with nanobots. They were deliberately injected with cancer cells for this experiment. Two of them were poisoned and died within five days of administration. One suffered permanent brain damage from the nanobots destroying brain cells. Another showed cystic fibrosis on the lungs. The final subject showed promise and the cancer cells were destroyed without damage to any vital organs or tissue. She was given moderate compensation, given the nature of the experiment."

"They used other people as lab rats?" Oliver angrily replied. Felicity nodded somberly. He asked how she got the photos. She said they came from a non-reliable conspiracy theorist online.

"Were there any other people of interest?" He asked.

Felicity shook her head, "No, he was the only one that stood out. Almost all of their other medical breakthroughs and findings were public. His were the only ones that were deemed as classified." She took a brief look at the time and realized she had to leave. Oliver asked why and she replied, "I have an interview I need to go to."

Oliver raised an eyebrow, "Interview with who?"

"An interview at A.R.E.S Industries."

His eyes widened a bit at the shock of this, "Are you crazy? Working for this man is dangerous."

She quipped, "And working for you isn't? Besides, I can't hack their systems from the outside. I need to do it from the inside. We need to know what's going on and stop it. "

Oliver didn't have a comeback for that and just kept quiet. She assured him that she'd be okay working there and report anything noteworthy.

* * *

Felicity entered the A.R.E.S building and went to the receptionist that was directly ahead. The receptionist stopped typing, looked up at Felicity and asked, "Hello, how can I help you?"

"I would like to know where the interview is being held."

"Take the elevator to the fifth floor, the waiting room will be straight ahead. You can wait there until it's your turn to be interviewed."

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome," The receptionist quickly got back to typing, but was interrupted by a phone call.

Felicity got to the elevator and pressed the fifth floor button. It was a relatively quick ride up with no interruptions. As soon as the elevator door's opened, she made her way to the waiting room. There were five people here for their interview as well. Two women were on their phones, one man was reading a magazine, and the last two men were reading a newspaper. She saw the secretary at her desk typing quickly on the keyboard. The nameplate on her desk said Michelle Ortega

She sat down and grabbed a nearby newspaper to look at. There was an article about Jade's Jewelry store being robbed. _I always wanted a pendant from there_, Felicity thought.

Being engrossed with reading the newspaper, Felicity realized that she was the last one to be called for her interview.

Michelle called Felicity and said Mr. Sanders was ready for her. She was going to be bombarded with questionable choices like quitting Queen Consolidated a few months ago and asking about how it was working for Oliver.

The moment of truth was here. Felicity opened the door to his office and saw Warren sitting down waiting. He was an older gentleman around the age of fifty. His brown hair had a touch of gray, but was barely noticeable. His face was very youthful and his cerulean blue eyes were soul piercing.

Michelle introduced Warren and Felicity to each other. Warren dismissed Michelle and she went back to her desk.

Felicity struggled to keep her composure. The man was attached to many horrific experiments, yet she was ogling him. _Focus, Felicity, focus_, she chided herself.

Warren got up and walked over to Felicity. He extended his hand out and she shook it. "Hello, Ms. Smoak," he said with his smooth baritone voice.

"Hello, Mr. Sanders," she said, managing to not stutter.

He motioned her to have a seat and she sat with her hands on her lap. He was looking over a document, most likely her résumé. "Ms. Smoak, how would you describe yourself as a worker?"

Felicity cleared her throat before she replied "I am hard-worker that gets the job done. I work well with others, but I'm independent. When face with time constraints, I adapt quickly. Whatever problem you have, I can solve to the best of my ability."

Warren raised an eyebrow at her response "You seem pretty confident with yourself."

"They don't graduate slackers at M.I.T."

He nodded his head in approval, "I like that. You have worked for Oliver Queen as his personal assistant. How would you describe your experience?"

Felicity was struggling on how to word her response. She didn't want to tarnish his name, but Warren can probably sense when someone is lying. "It was a unique experience. Mr. Queen always kept me busy and there was always something to do.

Warren was nodding his approval again, "Well we are out of time. This company depends on hard work and long hours. We want you to put your all in everything you do. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes sir," Felicity said humbly.

Warren gave a brief smile "Congratulations Ms. Smoak, you're hired. You can start tomorrow. Would you like a tour of the facility?"

"If you don't mind..."

"Nonsense, you might as well get familiar with the place before you start. Michelle, can you send up Ethan?"

"Actually he's right here sir. He finished that report you requested."

"Excellent! Send him in."

Felicity and Warren watched as Ethan walked through the door. Ethan had sandy blond hair. He had a lean muscular body, like a track runner. His face determined he was in his early to mid-twenties. His emerald green eyes had a glint like the gems themselves.

Ethan walked up to Warren and gave him the folder in his hand. "Ethan, this is Ms. Smoak. She'll be in the IT department with you. Can you give her a proper tour?"

"Yes sir," Ethan said and he escorted Felicity to tour the building.

The pair went down to the third floor. They couldn't access the fourth floor since it was the medical department and medical personnel were only allowed access. The third floor was the IT department. Ethan showed her the offices and server rooms. Felicity saw the people inside of the offices and they were very focused on their work. She saw one man sweating a bit as he was typing.

"Seems like everyone is hard at work," Felicity said. They barely spoke a word to each other since they left Warren's office. Ethan was doing most of the talking.

"Yeah, a lot of people here are mostly focused on their careers. It's kind of sad really. I hope I don't end up like them," Ethan said.

Felicity said nothing and requested to be shown out the front door. They got to the first floor and Ethan quickly showed her the cafeteria.

"Well Felicity, I'm confident you'll do great here. If you ever need to talk to someone, you can always come to me."

Felicity smiled, "I'll keep that in mind, Ethan. Good-bye."

"Good-bye."

* * *

On a rooftop in the cover of night, Apollo watched a group of five gathered in the alley below. He switched functions on his mask to zoom in and watch their movements closely. They all carried pistols in their holsters.

"Have you heard there's another guy with a bow and arrows running around?" One man asked.

"Yeah, he's called the Copycat Arrow. I heard he's just as dangerous."

"We need to keep on our toes."

One man pulled out a syringe with a gray substance in it. "What the hell is that Jack?"

Jack answered, "This, gentlemen, is a syringe full of nanobots. They can be programmed to do various tasks. They can clot blood faster, prolong adrenaline, and inhibit pain. With this, we don't have to worry about bleeding out and feeling pain."

"Where did you get this stuff, Jack?"

Jack dodged the question "Don't ask, Tom, you're better off not knowing. So, who wants some nanobots?"

Apollo launched a smokescreen arrow in the middle of the group. The smoke quickly enveloped them and Jack hid the syringe. The group drew their pistols, but had difficultly seeing due to the thickness of the smoke. Apollo switched the ocular setting on his mask to let him see through the smoke. He grabbed two guys' heads and smashed them together, knocking them unconscious. He put a man in a sleeper hold until he was no longer fighting back. The fourth man was given a minor sedative via a dart that Apollo threw.

Jack fired his gun, but missed and Apollo launched an arrow and disarmed him. He made a dash for his gun, but Apollo dragged him away from it.

Apollo slammed Jack into the brick wall and punched him a few time times. He quickly found the syringe and placed it into his pouch. "Where did you get the nanobots from?" Apollo growled, demanding answers immediately.

Jack merely laughed. "Like I would tell you Copycat."

Apollo dislocated Jack's right shoulder and the man groaned in pain. "Call me a copycat again and I'll make your dislocated shoulder seem like a slap on the wrist. Tell me, where did you get them?!"

Jack fell out of consciousness and Apollo threw him to the ground without mercy. Apollo examined the syringe intently. "You're too dangerous to be on the streets," he muttered as he left the scene.


End file.
